warnings: tension, these two hate each other
a/n: there are samwise gamgee quotes in this one, can you spot them?
word count: 3774

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Minerva had finally decided to extend the winter break a little further, as long as they needed to get rid of those dark powers lurking in the woods and actually try to find Albus Dumbledore.
A quest, indeed.

Many teachers volunteered to either stay at Hogwarts to protect it – and those who needed to stay for the holidays – or sail to a new adventure; eventually, it all came down on the temporary Headmistress' shoulders.

"I trust you to be the finest wizards this school has ever had the honour of educating," she proclaimed one night in the staffroom, "as well as those who already fought the enemy and caused it great damage."

Her motherly eyes shone with worry and pride at them, as if they were her own son and daughter.

"After Christmas day, you shall leave to your duty as DADA teachers and bring back our dear Headmaster."

Minerva sighed, her face showed all her years spent frowning and caring for her students.

"Severus, Cesira... we are in your hands."

They darted a look at each other, tossing streams of words across their collected faces that died within the inexplicability of their glares, dripping down their chins, forming a pond between their feet.

"We accept." they solemnly swore in unison, their oath thrumming in their heads all the following days and nights.

Still, term wasn't over yet and they could enjoy their time at the castle while it lasted. By enjoy they meant annoying the shit out of each other.

Merlin knew if those truly were their last weeks in Hogwarts.

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"Oh my days, that was the best DADA lesson I've ever witnessed!"

"For real, those two are such badasses I wouldn't be shocked if they turned out to be Merlin and Morgana themselves!"

"Who do you prefer, dude? Snape or Blyde?"

"Gotta be Snape man, the bat sure is an arse but he's terrific at what he does."

"Nah, for me it's Blyde: this woman can do anything! And she's fine too."

"Am I now, Mr. Allen?"

The students stopped dead in their steps as they were sharing their thoughts on the most popular teachers at the moment – yes, surprisingly he earned the title too – staring eyes wide open at Cesira grinning, arms crossed.

The boy blushed. "Uhm s-sorry-"

"No need too, I appreciate your support. Now, shouldn't you boys be in the Great Hall for our common homework session?"

The pack nodded silently, not remotely knowing how to interact with a woman they so plainly drooled after since day one.

"And for your information, Mr. Graham," the witch addressed his supporter, "know that Professor Snape would have deducted points from your house should it have been him to find you out here chatting."

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"Looks like we currently are the most popular teachers according to our students," Cesira whispered to Severus as she passed him by whilst supervising the annual study session for those unlucky ones who had their OWLs and NEWTs looming in a distance.

He grimaced, giving her a sidelook as her head slipped under his hooked nose.

"My, we're in for another competition Blyde?" he basically mouthed.

Cesira gave him a lopsided smile.

"It ain't a competition if there already is a winner." she pointed at herself, storming away in her unusually black and red robes.

Sometimes she would hear a loud whack when Snape reprimanded noisy dunderheads with his worn book he was lazily reading between strolls – wait.

Cesira depended on her lonely sight and glared across the hall at the tall shadow, recognizing his intriguing read: it was her copy of Kafka's letters to Milena.

I bet he stole it after we fell asleep.

She decided to let him be, he was in for a beautiful time with an author like Franz. He reminded a bit of him too – his hollow cheeks, his holes haunted by something that was clearly dehumanizing him from the inside, his misery, his workaholism.

Oh yes, he was a tragedy on display for everyone to read.

Two known troublemakers were sneakily trying to throw bewitched paper planes carrying a slimy prank to the dungeon bat, showing a disturbing need to risk their lives.

Cesira slapped air and their little plan failed as she made those planes disappear before they could hit their turned target.

"Don't you dare." she whispered menacingly to them idiots, twisting her wrist to make them whip their heads back to their books.

"I said NO!" bellowed a shaky voice from a table to her left.

Snape immediately stepped in, staring down a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin.

"What happened Mr. Turpin?" he demanded an immediate answer.

Cesira urged everyone to mind their business, eavesdropping what was going on since one of her students was involved – and a rather shy type.

"I simply asked Miss Wilkes here for a spare inkpot, Professor Snape."

"T-that's not true! He was trying to read my essay and cheat."

Erika stood up from another table, fists tightening. Cesira was quick to put a hand on her shoulder and force her to sit down.

"This is not your fight Miss Hatch." her Head firmly stated.

"But you know how Turpin is!" she countered, face reddened by rage.

Her teacher nodded, clenching her jaw and staring at the distant black frame hiding the sources of distraction from everyone else.

"Leave this to me."

"Are you quite sure, Miss Wilkes? It is a serious accusation to make. Do we have any witness to support her statement?" he questioned softly, boring his charcoals into the frightened students sitting at their table.

No one dared to look at him.

"Very well," he snatched their notebooks and read their essays in search of signs of cheating, "there is no similarity if compared."

Miss Wilkes made herself smaller and smaller as Snape pierced her feeble soul with his blank eyes, hiding a smirk which usually signaled one of his reproaches long to be forgotten.

"Since you broke the most paramount rule for these sessions, which is being silent, you will leave this room at once and will serve a week's detention with me. Consider yourself lucky, Miss Wilkes, for were you in Slytherin-"

"But she's not." interrupted a strong, feminine voice from a short distance.

Cesira was fuming, if not a living fire standing there with a reassuring hand on her student's arm.

"I do not believe Miss Wilkes is lying, she doesn't have a reason to. She is a well-mannered girl and a diligent student."

Snape held his chin high, narrowing his eyes at the bigger bird protecting her flock.

"Surely you should know Professor Blyde that such accusations must be followed by proper proof, which your dear raven you are pathetically trying to protect doesn't dispose of."

His student snickered, giving hers a mean look.

Cesira didn't smirk nor grin: she took a step forward and grounded herself right underneath his Roman nose.

"I won't allow you to unjustly punish a student of mine who is only guilty of standing up for herself.  If you must punish someone, I take her blame."

Now a simmering murmuring crashed the sacred silence floating beneath flying candles.

"She's under my responsibility, thus I will serve detention." Cesira took another step staring fearlessly into his storming charcoals threatening thunders and downpours.

"Or are you too much of a coward to punish me? After all, it is known for snakes to retreat when confronted."

Snape seemed to recover instantly from her public snub, standing taller than he has ever been, his regal pose defying her fierce one.

"I do not tolerate cheek from anybody, not even from a fellow colleague, Professor Blyde."

He paused, breathing over her.

"She will serve detention, the decision has been made."

Cesira quirked her brow, crossing her arms.

"No, she won't."

Snape curled his upper lip in sheer disgust, speaking ever softly as he seldomly got truly angry with people.
His eyes, though, were thundering to keep his true feelings at bay.

"There is no need to ridicule yourself in front of everyone Professor Blyde, at last you have proved how little you care for your flock to take responsibility for their own actions."

Cesira didn't waver, slowly parting her lips as his venomous words hit a steel hard surface. Ridicule herself for standing up against injustice in plain sight? Student body may chicken out everytime that hideous wizard speaks, but she would always stay to fight.

"So no detention for me? How disappointing." she cooed, now showing a winning smirk that would annoy even the most patient being on Earth.

Apparently, Snape was indeed a very patient man.

"Get back to work." his baritone rolled off his mouth and punched her in her lower belly.

Cesira nodded, tossing a word that pulled every string of his nervous system in a mere whisper before getting back to strolling around tables.

"Coward."

They stared hatefully into each other from time to time as the session came closer to its end, one could almost see magical sparks forming where their glares met. It was impossible not to be touched by such tension.

"You two need to shag!" shouted a reckless student whilst everybody was packing to get away as soon as possible, albeit giving a comical dash to this very public altercatement among the leading ship of the school.

"Ten points from Gryffindor!" they countered in unison.

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Mid december was approaching, and so every teacher reached the end of their first term's programs, letting lessons be study sessions or just lively chatting with their students.

Of course, every teacher but Snape.

Though he had finished his formal lessons, he still made students write torturous essays and brew potions to revise everything they had done, adding casual questions throughout his monologues that sounded like real interrogations.
Alas, several points were taken each time he bombed them with tricky quizzes.

Penny was boots deep down into helping every poor student, tutoring them in their free time or illegaly prepare spare lessons for those who were too frightened to understand what Snape was explaining in potions.

As far as DADA was concerned, he had the great misfortune to share lessons with the insufferable, arrogant Gryffinclaw.

And, as some youngster would put it, they were a power duo.

"Alright, it's singing time!" she proclaimed to a class of sixth year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, signaling the end of formalities.

How he dreaded that silly occasion.

Cesira waved her hand in a circular motion, summoning delicious drinks in everyone's hand. Snape had put it down on their desk.

She headed for the piano on the right corner, letting her signature hairstyle get loose, leaving fair locks hanging on her scarred face as her robes morphed into muggle cargos and a worn out Ravenclaw quidditch sweater.

"Hit it!"

The students practiced some charms to trasfigure desks into a ball platform, conjuring real snowflakes delicately falling to the ground.

Cesira started playing Christmas songs, from traditional ballads to rock jams, singing along with those dunderheads. Snape rolled his eyes and started grading at the teacher's desk, trying so hard to ignore a terrible song called 'Feliz Navidad' that was making everyone go head over heels.

Her slender fingers were flying over the keys, her head banging to the jolly rhythm as she imagined Francis and Hazel sitting on the piano as they played their guitars like they used to do every winter break.

She wanted to cut the Christmas spirit off of her soul, yet she knew that living that period of time in agony and faded memories would have hurt her friends.
December was a violent month for her, but she did everything in her power to give the best time to others so that, maybe, their happiness would paint her grey skies a brightest blue.

It wouldn't happen. It never did.

"Come on Professor, I need another pair of hands for this one!" she bellowed above the noise of singing teenagers, turning her neck to look at him crouched on her desk.

He slowly pierced her eye – if looks could kill she would be long gone by now.

"It might have escaped your notice, but I don't know how to play the piano." his voice was deep enough to be heard without any yelling.

"You'll learn in no time, c'mon Snape!"

He wanted to protest, and just like that he found himself sitting beside her, thighs glued together.

"You need to stop casting wandless spells Blyde," he reprimanded her, feeling his fingers have a will of their own as they started playing another Christmas song with a mellow harmony, speaking of a war over.

"Look, you're already good at it!" she had stopped jinxing his fingers long ago, pleased to see how much of a fast learner he was.

Such a Slytherin.

Students gathered round them, holding their drinks high as they hugged each other, swinging from right to left and taking up the chorus' role.

Snape didn't know the song, but he liked the nostalgia seeping from its lyrics. And how her voice floated effortlessly out of her thin lips with such delicacy... he would never admit that to anyone.

"Waaar is oooveeer iiif yooou waaant iiit noooow!"

Cesira smiled as she heard his silent humming vibrating through her body, eyeing his raven hair hiding his face from anyone.

War, ironically enough, wasn't over for the both of them.

Another large bunch of students and staff gathered around the pianists, having heard singing noises coming from their classroom.

When they finished, Cesira summoned her patronus – an orca, for instance – which swam around the room, diving right into the gathering to dissolve in million Christmas lights shining on.

Everyone cheered, Minerva latched onto Severus' arm as soon as he stood up, getting him to stay awhile with them. He huffed, letting the witch use him as a support.

"This one is quite special, I used to sing it every dinner with two dear friends." she bit her lip, badgering her tears that were threatening to warp her features.

"It goes like this..."

One of the saddest Christmas songs started soaring from her tongue, singing melancholic words.
As Cesira kept performing 'River', she eventually looked up above the piano, where two long gone fellows were sitting, smiling at her.

"Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on..."

Francis winked, strumming his classic guitar as Hazel tapped her bass. Suddenly they were on a corner in the Great Hall, dizzy from all the food they had eaten and slightly worried about approaching tests, yet singing on as if nothing really mattered as long as they lived in the same world.

When darkness only seemed a night's belonging and not a daylight shadow, when the only war they knew was a snowball fight in the courtyard.

Oh, they looked so real as their song marched on.

But as her fingers stopped dancing on the keys and her words had dried out on her tongue, Francis and Hazel were gone.

Minerva had been secretly caressing Severus' back throughout all her song, her motherly instinct sensing it had made him uneasy.

Cesira chortled to damper her harrowing nostalgia under layers of clapping and whistling, breaking in million pieces but as she shattered her edges glistened – shining just for them.

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"Dear girl, it's time for your announcement." whispered Minnie to her ear, eliciting a grimace on her face.

She had chosen one of her best pieces for that particular event, earning admiring glances from everyone in the castle – even Snape.
Well, not that he would ever compliment her looks anyway: she always remained a conceited show-off for his own liking.
Plus, he had spied on hers and Penny's whereabouts, worried about what the two witches were plotting for the nearing day before winter break. They seemed too happy while frolicking with Hagrid in his hut.

Cesira approached the edge of the platform, clapping twice to gain everyone's attention as well as silence.

"As their Head, I am honoured to announce that this year house Ravenclaw – first ranked both in our House Cup and Quidditch Cup – will be hosting the Celestial Banquet: a special dinner that will take place in our beautiful common room. Everyone is welcome," she darted a look on his students, "to a night of celebration and breathtaking effects to entertain our guests."

She clapped her hands, summoning enchanted invitation cards on everyone's plate.

"The dresscode will be inspired by our pristine midnight skies: all shades of blue, black and white are accepted."

She softly blowed on her wand, sending smoke-made ravens flying over the four tables, disappearing into the ceiling leaving traces of blue and bronze sparks behind them.

"We're eager to meet you."

Penny and the blues cheered louder than everyone else. Cesira bowed curtly, getting back to the staff table.

Her and Hooch had been working their asses off to clean their house reputation, pushing their flock to achieve what they deserved and never neglecting emotional support.
How many nights had Cesira been spending listening to their rants, their problems, their burnouts. Filius had let them know he was over the moon at the merry news.

Slytherin and Hufflepuff were largely known to have been throwing some of the best banquets Hogwarts has ever seen, but this was their chance to shine.

"Will you come, sir?" Penny asked her tutor as the dinner came to an end, Cesira was leaning on the table with her hipbone, arms crossed, eye on him.

"Don't get your hopes too high Penny, they are bound to fall." he replied sternly, standing up abruptly.

"Here I thought about hiring you for a dueling show," Cesira smirked.

Snape stopped right in front of her, arched brow and all his rituals to non-verbally tell someone to fuck off.

"Why don't you ask Madam Hooch? It's an all-blue event after all." he scoffed.

Cesira shrugged. "I need someone brilliant when it comes to wand waving."

Penny beamed at her unabashed compliment.

"I don't fish for praises Blyde, unlike someone."

As if his ego isn't as big as his batass cloak.

"It doesn't hurt me to sincerely extol one's skills, unlike someone."

His face was as blank as ever, always terribly funny to witness. He was a comedian without even trying.

"Penny's office. Now." he ordered in his teacher's voice, leading the way.

Penny stumbled behind him. "B-but it's my office, sir!"

The menacing shadow didn't utter a word, eating up that three minutes walk to the dungeons in large strides – his own gait had singlehandedly so much charisma it was actually annoying.

Walking like he owns the whole damn place, tsk.

Once they got to her door he whispered the password, keeping it open for the ladies to enter first.

Of course he would know her password.

"What's all this about, Snape?" Cesira huffed, leaning against a wall in her signature pose.

Him and Penny fidgeted with a vial and a well-read book, rumbling things to themselves like two crazy scientists – who they actually resembled.

"Whilst you were too busy showing off at all times, Penny and I have studied what attacked us and did something useful for Hogwarts' sake."

Cesira ignored his sassy reproach, tipping her head to gesture the youngest one to explain their theories.

"The poison goes back to very ancient creatures, damned souls of wizards who existed long before the time of Merlin. They are commonly called Expirivit, immortal soldiers of evil darkness." she paused, gulping.

"You have not destroyed them, only depleted their capabilities – which is historically impossible."

Cesira glimpsed at him.

"They cannot act on their own, they serve the embodiment of all that is despicable, but... their master, to be such, must be dead."

So, not Voldemort at last. The bastard was still around, everyone knew that.

"There are many evil wizards deceased in Magical History, they could belong to anyone. From what that ghost has told you, it might make sense to think that Dumbledore must be a powerful means to achieve unlimited power, mightier than the Deathly Hollows."

Cesira nodded, unfazed.

She felt numb to the bone by her eerie statement, not remotely worried about the outcome. Yes, she was a reckless witch, but not someone who has never encountered the darkness of this world.
Voldemort had used all kinds of beasts during the war, she had seen things yet to be made sense of.

Fight or die trying, to the end.

"I know what Professor McGonagall has asked you." she bursted out, fists balling. "There is no way out of this alive, I will not let you go alone."

Cesira and Severus unconsciously approached Penny on the verge of tears, unsure on how to comfort her.

She was Hazel and Francis all at once, asking her to join the fight.

"You will not embark on such a quest Beechwood, have I made myself clear?" he snapped calmly, forbidding any back talk by the way his baritone fluttered through the air.

Penny stomped her foot, giving in to her outburst.

"I know you all think I'm only good at potions, that I am feeble because I'm helplessly kind! But I am as fierce as you are, I know that there's good in this world that's worth fighting for."

She tried to calm her hiccups.

"I am tired of sitting on the bleachers of my own life, I want to go with you."

"Penny, I-"

"You are so caring in your own ways, I couldn't possibly imagine someone else to risk my life with." she held her heart, then she stared them down with her big eyes.

"I will not abandon my friends to torment and death. Not while I have strength left."

Cesira reached for her hand, but she yanked it away.

"Don't leave me here alone. Don't go where I can't follow."

Silence. Unreadable thoughts, tornados of doubts and what ifs awashing the room.

Severus spoke first. "Very well, you are mistress of your own wind, Penny. Mind, I won't care if you die."

Cesira sucked in oxygen. "We'll look after each other so that no one has to, Snape."

Penny smiled through tears, hugging her stress out with the witch, knowing he would flipendo her to the Astronomy Tower had she dared touch him.

Snape rolled his eyes. "Merlin, don't tell me we are friends now."

Cesira smirked as she stroked Penny's braids.

"How about a trio?" she quipped.

His eyes glistened with unbridled queasiness. "I could vomit."